No prosecution of anti-war demonstrators

Friday

Apr 25, 2008 at 1:33 PM

BARNSTABLE - Four Cape anti-war demonstrators facing trespassing charges in connection to a sit-in at U.S. Rep. William Delahunt’s office last month were disappointed when the district attorney’s office opted not to prosecute the case this morning.

ROBIN LORD

BARNSTABLE - Four anti-war demonstrators facing trespassing charges in connection to a sit-in at U.S. Rep. William Delahunt’s office last month were disappointed when the district attorney’s office opted not to prosecute the case this morning.

“That pulls the rug right out from under us,” said Paul Rifkin of Cotuit.Rifkin and co-defendants Diane Turco, Sarah Thacher and Michael Risch were hoping they could take the case to a trial to highlight what they believe is illegal and immoral Congressional funding of the war.

“We see it as our responsibility of citizens to speak out when our government is not doing something right,” said Turco, a Harwich resident. “The war is a greater threat than our trespassing.”

The group was arrested on March 20, about 24 hours after arriving at Delahunt’s Hyannis office to demonstrate on the fifth anniversary of the start of the Iraq war.

Delahunt, who was not there at the time, spoke with the demonstrators on the telephone and refused to sign a pledge not to vote for any more funding for the war, according to Turco.

She commended Delahunt for publicly denouncing the war, but said she was disappointed that he voted for a $50 billion war funding package last November.

The demonstrators spent the night in Delahunt’s Main Street office on March 19 and were arrested the next day, after standing firm on their promise to stay until he signed the pledge.

The group, all members of Cape Codders for Peace and Justice, were hoping the Commonwealth would attempt to dismiss the charges this morning, so they could press for a jury trial.

“We want to be judged by our peers,” Turco said.

By choosing not to prosecute, the state essentially took no action and therefore removed the trial option for the group, said Arthur Ryley, a Barnstable attorney who signed on to represent Rifkin, Turco, Thacher and Misch this morning.

The trespassing charge said that the four did not have a right to be in Delahunt’s office that day, he said. Had the case gone to a trial, he said he would have argued “it’s a the fundamental right of every person” to express their opposition to the war.